The Holy Partner

Planting red seed potatoes on Valentine's Day is a tradition which spans all my adult years.  Actually, I am a bit late this year as the planting took place only a few days ago.  It is a tradition which is both therapeutic and spiritual.  There is something special about taking the old push plow out for a ride through freshly tilled dirt and watching it opening the earth before me.  Once the furrows are busted open, there is a slow walk down the rows dropping cut potatoes in the ground.  A final walk along those white sulfur dusted potato pieces is filled with the smell of freshly turned dirt as a booted foot covers them up. 

 

It is therapeutic.  It is mind emptying.  It is spiritual.  The soul is fed.  Long before the potatoes fill the stomach, the planting feeds the soul.  There is something unique and holy which takes place in that moment of being so connected to the earth.  It is as if there is a holy partner walking through the dirt with me.  It is a reminder that there is a Partner present with me in any act of planting.  Once the seed is in the ground, my part is done and everything that follows is up to Him. 

 

I cannot help but be reminded on the day of planting these potatoes that life is constantly lived with the holy Partner walking alongside.  Sometimes, as was the case when the plow was opening the earth, I am aware I am not alone.  But, there are too many other times when the task becomes so important that getting it done becomes more important than being in touch with what is happening as it is getting done.  Too many times I treat the journey with this Holy Partner carelessly.  It was good to have a different moment which reminded me of how it should be every day and every moment.